Seven Weapons of Spiritual WarfareSýnishorn

Sword of the Spirit

Every soldier that goes into battle needs a weapon. In days gone by, that weapon was often a sword. With a sword they could both deflect enemy attacks, and they could go on the attack to win battles.

It is the same for the soldiers of Christ.

We are told to take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

It is important to understand what those words are saying. It is not the Spirit that is the sword, but the word of God.

The word of God is powerful. It is likened to a sharp two-edged sword that pierces to the divisions of soul and spirit within man.

It was also by using the word of God that Jesus won the victories over the devil. When He was tempted for forty days in the wilderness by the devil, Jesus overcame every temptation by saying, “It is written…” He destroyed every temptation, attack, and opposition from the devil by using the sword of the Spirit, that is, the word of God.

Jesus defeated the devil in the wilderness by quoting scripture, which is the word of God. Even when the devil tried to twist the scripture to defeat Jesus, the Lord fought back with more scripture to overcome the false words of Satan and to win the day.

We have a role to play in this too. The Spirit can only fight or defend with the sword of the Spirit when and if we arm Him with the sword. It is our responsibility to arm the Spirit by studying the word of God in the scriptures. We need to immerse ourselves in the word, committing it to memory so that the Spirit has the scriptures at the ready when the need arises to attack or defend.

It is part of the role of the Holy Spirit to bring to our remembrance all of the words of Jesus. But how can we remember something that is not already in our memory? That is why we need to study God’s word and be filled with His words of truth, which abide and will stand forever. This is how we arm the Spirit with the sword.

Call to action:

Have you armed the Holy Spirit with the sword? Are you regularly studying the scriptures to learn the words of God, which are the truth, so as to arm the Spirit and enable the Spirit to fight on your behalf? The sword is an important part of the armour, so do your best to ensure you have armed the Spirit with the words of God’s truth.